Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Jeremy Hilton.

There were no substitutions at this meeting.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 29 July 2015.

Resolved

That the minutes of the meeting held on 29 July 2015 be approved and signed as a correct record.

To answer any written public questions about matters which are within the powers and duties of the Committee.  The closing date/time for the receipt of questions is 10.00am on 29 February 2016.

To answer any oral question(s) put by member of the public with the consent of the Chairman.

Depending on the nature of the questions asked it may not be possible to provide a comprehensive answer at the meeting, in which case a written answer will be supplied as soon as reasonably possible after the meeting.

No public questions were received.

To answer any written members’ questions.  The closing date/time for the receipt of questions is 10.00am on 29 February 2016.

No members’ questions were received.

To consider the Council’s Pay Policy Statement, and recommend it to Full Council for approval.

Dilys Wynn, Director of People Services, introduced the revised 2016-17 Pay Policy Statement to the Committee.

Nick Lerry, Employer Relations Manager, explained to the Committee that the Government was consulting on several issues that would have an impact on the Pay Policy Statement in the next 12 months. In particular, the Government was consulting on the introduction of a statutory requirement for employees with full-time equivalent earnings of £80k or more who leave employment with a redundancy or other severance payment, to repay this to their former employer if re-employed by any public sector organisation within 12 months of the date on which their previous employment ended.

In response to a question, it was clarified that employees would have to pay back their redundancy or other severance payment if they re-engaged with any remunerated public sector work, including agency work, with only a few exceptions.

The Committee was also informed that regulations were anticipated to come into effect from October 2016 which would place a cap on the total of value of severance payments to public sector employees at £95k. This would include the capitalisation cost of any early release of pension.

Members discussed the impact the introduction of the severance pay cap would have and how it would be implemented.

In response to a query, members understood that the introduction of the severance pay cap would affect only small numbers of employees at the Council as there had already been a large restructuring of the organisation.

Members acknowledged that there would need to be a further meeting of the Committee once the regulations had been agreed so that they could be reflected in the Pay Policy Statement.

On this basis, the Committee

Resolved to recommend

That Council adopt the revised 2016-17 Pay Policy Statement.